Over the weekend i went up to Mt Kinabalu again (yes, for the 4th time) to do my first mountain torq via ferrata climb...since i'm leaving Sabah soon, it was now or never...but after a most gruelling climb, it was definitely the first...and last of via ferrata for me...i went up with 5 other guys from my department on Friday morning..the initial ascend via Timpohon gate wasn't too bad...me and 2 other guys reached Pendant hut (just a bit above Laban Rata) at about 115pm...definitely not as fit as i used to be...tried to sleep while waiting for the mountain torq briefing...but sleep just wouldn't come....
Thank God for heated shower...at least i could bathe and wash my hair and feel more comfortable...after the briefing and some practical session, we went down to Laban Rata for our buffet dinner...it was raining the whole evening till night...but praise God that the rain stopped somewhere close to midnight...as usual i couldn't sleep the whole night...i blamed it on the dexa i took but this time i only took very small doses...and even 2 tabs of piriton couldn't make me fall asleep...urgh!!! so i was tossing and turning....listening to the rain...and the snores...and sleep-talking...
Finally it was time to get up for our ascend to the peak...hardly slept a wink...started our ascend to the peak at about 2am...me and 2 other guys were walking together...taking our own sweet time...coz no point getting to the peak too early...the sun ain't gonna rise sooner...and it's bloody cold up there...so we were watching the stars...the sky was so clear...i even managed to catch 2 shooting stars...so we finally made it to Low's peak at 520am...just in time to catch the sunrise...but it was so cold...and my shoes and socks got wet on the way up...had to get one of the guys to sit on my shoes to keep me warm...hehe...
We stayed till about 6am plus on the peak...then we started descending down to the meeting point where we would proceed with the via ferrata Low's peak circuit descend...made it there at about 715am...after securing our harness and setting up everything, we started our descend at about 8am...right from the start i was terrified...i hate heights...actually lost my footing at one point and was hanging onto the cable...i know i had my safety harness and rope...but it didn't stop me from feeling that i could have fallen to my death...shudder at the thought...
We had an initial 300m of vertical descend...and then we had to cross a bloody hanging bridge...which dropped quite a way down....and the 2 guys in front of me were taking their own sweet time taking photos while i was bloody stuck at the bridge...i just wanted to get it over and done with but they just wouldn't go...i was yelling at them to go coz i could feel a panic coming over me...those idiots actually asked me to get a grip...men can be such bastards...so in the end i cried...but i guess the cry distracted me so i managed to walk through the bridge anyway...
And then there were more descend...and another bridge...a 3-wired bridge...by then i think i was too exhausted to feel fearful...or perhaps it was becoz the drop wasn't too high...and then we finally had a break from climbing...we had to walk through about 300m of jungle...before that, we had our toilet break au naturel....at least the bush-walk was a welcome break...though i was quite down to my last energy reserve...then it was more descend...one last bridge to cross...a single-wired one...a bit too taxing for my upper limbs...good thing i didn't slip...and the last of the descend was really the worst for me...horizontal descend...i was praying that i had suddenly developed spidey's ability to wall-climb coz my limbs were failing me...and i felt like i had to plaster myself to the wall....
Finally, after about 5 1/2 hours descend...we finally reached Pendant hut again at about 130pm...our american breakfast (more like lunch by then) was waiting for us...but some idiots from a group that just came up ate our food...well, at least the management cooked more for us...if not, there'll definitely be a complain letter to the management...so after stuffing ourselves and packing up, we started our journey down to the foothill at about 3pm...pretty late by normal standard (as in non-via ferrata climb)...and the descend would take about 3-4 hours...considering we were all dead tired already....
One of the fitter guy ran down all the way...he reached about 6pm plus...another guy tried to run and busted his right knee...so he was basically handicapped after the 1st km down...i was walking my own pace...another guy was following another guy to help him keep up with the pace...and another guy actually had himself carried down with a stretcher for the 1st 3 km down...my knee was hurting quite a bit by the time we were halfway down...and as if one busted knee wasn't enough, another guy also said he couldn't go on coz his knee was hurting...so one of the guy accompanied one of the injured guy...and i had to accompany the other injured guy...
The other pair reached the foothill about 8pm...which i would have reached also if i had not bothered to accompany the other injured guy...so the 3 guys who reached first decided they would drive home first...leaving me to drive the other 2 guys home...so the other guy and i reached the foothill about 9pm plus...and the last guy only reached at 10pm...i was so tired that i could have just slept there...but i had to drive 2 grown men home...on a foggy night...on dark winding roads...thank God that i didn't doze off and drove off some cliffs...or else my department will definitely be short-staffed come Monday...
After this trip, i have lost respect on men in general...i should have known better...but i guess reality doesn't sink in until it happens to you...some men are bloody irresponsible, selfish, ungentlemanly pigs...next time, oh, there will be no next time...i'm leaving KK already...well, it was definitely an experience...going mountain climbing with men...note to self...make sure you only go climbing with gentlemen who are fit enough...
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